Recuperating
by AnimationNut
Summary: After the events of Jurassic Park, everyone who survived is recuperating at the hospital. Recovery doesn't come easily or quickly after such a traumatizing ordeal, and the panic is difficult to shake. Lex struggles with anxiety in the following hours, but she doesn't have to go through it alone.


**I do not own Jurassic Park.  
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**I watched Jurassic Park in its entirety for the first time last week and have since watched it ten times. It's an amazing movie and I immediately fell in love with the relationship between Alan and the kids.  
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**Recuperating**

_Claws tapping against linoleum. The vicious growling as they slowly prowled between the stainless-steel counters. The freezer door lay at the end of the kitchen and Tim made a break for it, hobbling desperately as his injured foot made it difficult to run. But he wasn't quick enough and the Velociraptor leapt over the counter and attacked him, her teeth sinking into his skull—_

Lex awoke amidst her brother's screams and the roaring of the Velociraptor. Her own scream was cut off as her brother practically launched himself at her from his own bed. He clung to her and his small, comforting weight caused Lex to gasp for breath as her heart hammered violently in her chest.

"We're okay," said Tim as he held her, rocking her slightly in an attempt at comfort. "We're okay. We're in the hospital, remember?"

Lex looked around wildly, taking in the sterile white environment of the Costa Rican hospital room. Her breathing became less harsh but still uneven as she reoriented herself. She sat up, her limbs trembling from the terror of her dream.

"How long was I sleeping for?"

"A few hours, I think."

"What time is it?"

"Um, midnight, maybe?"

Lex took another look around and asked anxiously, "Where's Alan?"

"Sleeping in his room, probably."

Tim let go of his sister and moved to sit on the edge of her bed. His injured ankle was heavily bandaged and he'd been left with strict instructions not to put any pressure on it. It had been only a day since their terrifying ordeal at Jurassic Park and most of it had been spent getting their injuries treated. Alan and Ellie had been by to see them but didn't stay as long as they wanted. The doctors insisted they be resting and not visiting one another.

"What about Grandpa?" Lex pressed.

Tim shrugged. "Dunno. Still talking with the lawyers, I guess."

The same day that they had been admitted to the hospital John Hammond was whisked away by a set of men in black business suits. John had left his grandchildren with a promise that he would return and for them to stay put. No explanation had been given so the children were left to their own assumptions.

"Do you think Grandpa will be in trouble?" asked Tim softly.

"I think so," answered Lex, tugging on the edge of her blanket. "People died. We almost died."

Her voice quivered and it became difficult to breath again. The darkness of the room suddenly closed in on her. She started to gasp for air and Tim grabbed her hand, giving it a tight squeeze. "Come on. Let's see if we can find Dr. Grant."

They weren't supposed to leave their rooms but Lex didn't care. She was scared and wanted protection and security. She clung to Tim's arm and helped him hop across the room, making sure he kept his bandaged ankle off the ground. As she pushed open the door, a familiar and sudden scream of agony echoed down the long corridor.

Tim and Lex froze in place. For a moment, they thought that perhaps they were hearing things. But then the scream came again and Lex pushed her brother back into the hospital room. "Block the door," she said frantically as she slammed it shut behind her.

It was strange how quickly instincts could develop over such a short amount of time. But Ian's scream spurred her forwards, despite the fear charging through her veins, the blood roaring in her ears and her breaths becoming shorter with panic. But even though she was afraid she kept running, because as far as she knew Ian was in trouble and she had to try and save him.

"Dr. Malcolm!" she shouted as she sprinted down the corridor. "Dr. Malcolm!"

In her terrified state she did not hear Ian's answer. The girl's desperate call immediately caused Ian to stop his agonized shouting. "Lex! What's wrong? Lex!"

Nurses came spilling into the hallway and Lex shoved them out of her way. She ignored what they were saying, though that was easy, considering most of them spoke Spanish and she did not.

The commotion lured Alan and Ellie out of their rooms. They were wide-awake, as sleep did not come easily to any of them after their experience. Alan's eyes locked onto the scared little girl fighting her way through a throng of nurses trying to hold her back. He was by her side in an instant and he wrapped his arms around her. Lex finally ceased her thrashing at the familiar contact and she clung to his shirt.

"Alan," she gasped. "Dr. Malcolm—he's in trouble!"

"No, no, he's okay, Lex," soothed Alan.

"He's not! He was screaming! He needs help!"

"Breathe with me, Lex. In."

Lex took a shuddering intake of breath. Ellie gently rubbed her back as she continued to breathe, following Alan's instructions on when to inhale and when to exhale. Eventually her breathing returned to normal, her heart settled in her chest and the roaring in her ears stopped.

_"What the hell is going on out there? Are the kids okay? Lex? Lex!"_

Ian's voice finally reached her and Lex slumped forwards in relief, her head resting against Alan's chest. "I think you scared him more than he scared you," joked Ellie and Lex gave a small smile.

"Leave me alone!" Tim's voice drifted from the crowd of nurses who were watching the trio with disapproval. Tim batted away a nurse's hand and limped his way over to the group. "Lex! Is Dr. Malcolm okay?"

"He's fine," promised Alan. "In fact, why don't you see for yourselves?"

Ellie lifted Tim into her arms and Alan led Lex into Ian's room. The dark-haired man was laid up in his cot, his broken leg supported by a cast. "Is everyone okay?" Ian demanded. "Or are you going to keep ignoring my questions and let me die of a heart attack?"

"Tempting," muttered Alan under his breath. Ellie gave him a scolding swat on the arm and shot a glance at the kids, who didn't seem to have heard the man.

"I heard you scream," said Lex softly. "I thought…"

Suddenly she felt very foolish for thinking for even a second that a dinosaur could have gotten inside the hospital. Alan squeezed her shoulders and said kindly, "It's okay, Lex."

"We're completely safe here," assured Ellie, lightly brushing a strand of hair away from Lex's forehead, where her gash had been covered with stitches. "Dr. Malcolm was merely being an idiot. He doesn't know how to sit still."

"I'd like to see you sit still when, uh, you have a broken leg and the morphine wears off," growled Ian, gingerly shifting his position. "I can't reach the damn button to get more."

"I got it!" said Tim earnestly. He hobbled over to the small console near Ian's bed and smacked the button to summon a nurse.

"Thanks, kid. Remind me to fill out a complaint form. Don't know why the hell it's not on the bed like it should be."

"You need to stay off that ankle Timmy," cautioned Ellie.

"Here Tim, uh, have a seat," spoke Ian, gesturing to the edge of his bed.

Tim carefully sat by Ian and made sure not to jostle the man. Alan guided Lex to a chair situated in the corner of the room and she sat down. "Sorry," she said as she stared down at her hands. The red cuts had yet to heal and she picked at them. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

"Lex, honey, it's fine," said Ellie. She kneeled next to the girl and clasped her hands. "When Alan and I heard you shouting we reacted the exact same way."

A nurse stepped into the room and levelled them all with a stern frown. Grumbling under his breath, he went over to Ian and, after several minutes of poor Spanish on Ian's part and poor English on the nurse's part, a shot of morphine was administered.

"Kids, if you have option to learn Spanish in school, take it. Practice it. Don't forget it," instructed Ian. He settled back against his pillows with a weary sigh.

"Did the T-rex do that to you?" asked Tim softly as he peered at Ian's damaged leg.

"Yeah. Knocked a, uh, bathroom on top of me. Could have been worse, though. Could have ended up like Gennaro."

Lex and Tim flinched and Alan snapped, "Ian!"

"Sorry, sorry," said Ian, reaching out to give Tim a comforting pat on the back as his shoulders shook. "Just my dark humour. It rears its ugly head in inappropriate situations. I'll try to keep it under control."

But the image was stuck in Lex's mind. Ian had just barely escaped being a T-rex's meal, all because he had distracted the dinosaur so Alan could rescue them. They hadn't even bothered to go back for him. And it was all her fault for agitating the T-rex in the first place.

Tears blurred her eyes and she said with a sob, "I'm sorry! It's my fault!"

"What's your fault?" asked Ellie urgently.

"The stupid flashlight! If I didn't turn it on then the T-rex would have left all of us alone and Mr. Gennaro would still be alive and Dr. Malcolm wouldn't be hurt—"

"Breathe," said Alan, cupping her face and forcing her to make eye-contact. "Just like I showed you. In and out."

Lex did the breathing exercises without Alan's coaching this time and calmed down. Ellie wiped away her tears and Ian said sharply, "None of this is your fault, Lex. Even if you hadn't touched the flashlight and the tyrannosaurus had left us alone, it wouldn't have stopped, uh, the Velociraptors. It wouldn't have changed much of anything. We'd still be stuck on that forsaken island with carnivorous dinosaurs on the loose. We'd still have no power. The chaos, uh, was inevitable."

"Because Grandpa did something he shouldn't?" asked Tim.

"He had power and he chose to use it when he shouldn't have," said Ellie, gently running her fingers through Lex's hair as Alan went to sit next to Tim, lightly clapping the boy on the shoulder. "But I don't suppose I can blame him."

"I can," said Ian with a scoff.

"It's really silly, now that I think about it," muttered Lex, kicking at the floor. "Trying to keep a T-rex in a paddock like it's a lion or monkey or something. But it was so cool…at first."

"It was," admitted Alan grudgingly. "But never destined to be successful."

"Humans like to think we have, uh, more control than we do," said Ian grimly. "We always seem to do things just because we can, and not think about whether or not we should."

"What's going to happen now?" asked Tim with a frown. "With Grandpa and Jurassic Park? Is he gonna be arrested?"

"He can't be arrested," said Lex in panic. "He didn't mean to do anything wrong. And if he gets arrested, how are we going to get home? Mom won't come here. It's too far and she's too busy. Grandpa was supposed to bring us home."

Ellie and Alan shared a quick glance. Ellie knew that Alan was feeling just as annoyed and angry as she was. She didn't know Lex's mother, but for Lex to claim that she was too busy to bother making the journey to tend to her children gave Ellie a negative impression.

"We'll bring you home," she promised.

"Absolutely," agreed Alan. "If your grandfather isn't ready to go when we're cleared from the hospital then we'll bring you home to your mother."

"Dr. Malcolm too?" asked Tim hopefully.

"You sure as hell aren't leaving me here by myself," said Ian with a scoff.

The possibility of leaving with the doctors caused Lex a great amount of relief. She sagged against the back of her chair and rubbed at her eyes. Tim let out an exhausted yawn that Alan did not miss. "It's about time we go back to bed."

"I can't sleep," said Lex miserably. "I dream about raptors."

"Me too, honey," said Ellie with a grim smile.

"Can't we stay together?"

"Yeah!" said Tim with excitement. "It can be like a sleepover!"

"There's not enough beds—" started Alan, but Ian cut him off.

"There's a spare one behind the, uh, curtain. Drag it over here."

Tim beamed and began to limp over. "Timmy, your ankle," said Lex in exasperation, jumping up to assist her brother.

"Thank you, Ian," said Alan flatly.

"What?" Ian asked with a smirk. "You didn't mind cuddling with them on the way here."

Ellie bit down on her knuckle to suppress her laughter as Alan glowered at the man. "You know, I bet that morphine wouldn't stop you from feeling the pain if I kicked that leg."

"Please, try. Then maybe they'll, uh, kick us all out for disturbing the peace and we can go home."

"I don't think we're going anywhere until we talk to the army of suites that marched in here yesterday," said Ellie, quickly losing her humour.

"Kind of them to give us a few days of rest and recovery before they harass us," muttered Ian.

There was a great clatter and the white curtain was pushed aside as Lex wheeled the steel frame of the cot to the other side of the room. Tim was already seated in the middle, arms raised as he enjoyed the brief ride.

"Careful, careful," cautioned Alan, moving to help the girl arrange the second cot next to Ian's. "Hit his leg and he might have a meltdown."

"Like I said, it might speed up our discharge."

"When do you think they'll let us out of here?" asked Tim as he flopped down on the cot.

"I'm not sure Timmy," said Ellie honestly. She adjusted his ankle so it was elevated and laid down next to him. "But there may be some men that want to talk to you first."

"The same men that have been talking to Grandpa since yesterday?"

"Yeah. They're going to have a lot of questions for you."

"What kind of questions?" asked Lex curiously.

"Most likely about what happened at Jurassic Park," answered Alan. He regarded the children and said seriously, "You answer their questions if you feel comfortable doing so, and you answer them honestly. If there's a question you don't want to answer then don't. Ask for one of us. Ask for your grandfather. And absolutely don't sign anything without one of us present. Do you understand?"

"Yes Dr. Grant," Lex and Tim said in unison.

"Good. Now try to get some sleep."

As Alan turned towards the door Lex asked worriedly, "Where are you going?"

"To sleep. In my own bed."

"But we're having a sleepover," said Tim with a whine.

"Yeah, Alan, you're ruining it," scolded Ian.

"Come on, Alan. Just for one night," persuaded Ellie.

Alan hesitated for a moment, eyeing the small cots with a degree of uncertainty and discomfort. Lex's pleading eyes caused him to give a tired, defeated sigh. "Make room."

Lex grinned broadly and scooted over to Ian's cot. She carefully laid next to him and he put an arm over her shoulders, tucking her against his side. Ellie moved over and pulled Tim closer so Alan would have enough room to lay beside him. The five were squeezed together on two cots and it wasn't necessarily comfortable, but it was comforting. In the presence of the adults who fought so hard to keep her and her brother safe Lex felt peace for the first time in forty-eight hours.

She still dreamt about raptors, but when she woke, they were there to soothe her, and that made all the difference.


End file.
